Editor's note: In an earlier version of this story, the date of the Jack Johnson concert was incorrect. The concert is scheduled for Saturday, May 24.

For our Capital Region Q&A feature, once a month we ask a local notable a few questions about the area we call home. Today's subject is Marcia White, who is entering her 10th summer as the president and executive director of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. The venue opens for the season Saturday with a concert by folk-rock singer-songwriter Jack Johnson. Before being hired at SPAC, White, 67, was a top political aide to former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. She lives in Saratoga Springs and is the mother of four daughters, all of whom work in the arts, and grandmother of nine. Answers have been minimally edited for space and clarity.

Q: One of your biggest priorities when taking over was ending SPAC's practice of running deficits that were well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. You've done that, finishing in the black for nine years in a row. What's the biggest priority for the next few years?

A: Doing the same thing. It's incredibly important to be successful, because people support success. That success will come from being relevant, being current, but more importantly from having a vision of where you need to be and where the arts will be before you even get there.

Q: SPAC's programming choices seem to get closer scrutiny and stronger criticism than those at other area arts organizations. Why do you think that is?

A: The criticism might be because we're doing things that need to happen. We changed some programming, but we did it while maintaining the world-class, classical underpinnings of SPAC. We've never diluted the programming; we enhanced it or provided a connection between the classical and the contemporary.

More Information

Q: Speaking of programming, does it ever annoy you that, even after 15 years of Live Nation booking the rock shows at SPAC, some people still blame SPAC if they don't like the lineup?

A: What bothers me is that they don't understand what the partnership is. If it wasn't for the revenue generated from our relationship with Live Nation, it would be very difficult to sustain resident companies there. What some people also don't seem to understand is that the Live Nation events have to be fit into our classical calendar. There are times they don't have the opportunity to bring in some of the best acts simply because the dates are already filled, but I think they do an incredible job.

Q: Last summer and this summer, the New York City Ballet's residency has been down to just one week — seven performances instead of 21 during the three-week residency that was the standard for many years. Will you be able to restore an additional week of the ballet next year?

A: That's an issue that we're beginning to have conversations about. They want to be here and we want them to be here. I'm very hopeful that's going to happen. For both of us, at the end of the day, it's all about raising money for the residency.

Q: Pop quiz: The Whitney Handicap, named for the family that has been among SPAC's biggest supporters since its founding, will be run for the 87th time on Aug. 2. The purse has doubled since last summer. How much will it be this year?

A: Oh, I read it in the paper. Oh, no. I can't remember.

Q: It's $1.5 million.

A: Yes, that's it. It's a big deal.

Q: Your predecessor worked at SPAC for 35 years, 27 as its executive director. How long would you like to stay in your current position?

A: I have no clue. I've started to think about it, and maybe the 50th anniversary, in 2016, is the right time for me to step down, but I don't know. The time will come, and I'll know when it's right, and I'll certainly give the board of directors plenty of notice. There's no way I'm going to retire; I'm going to do something else; I'll decide how I reinvent my self for the fourth time.

Q: When you do step down, will you have a dog in your life again? They've always been very important to your family.

A: Absolutely. But it will be when I have time, when I'll be able to be home with it. I don't want the dog sitting there at night, waiting for me to come home at 8 or 9 or even later.

Q: A big part of your job is fundraising. Are there ever days when you wake up and think, "I just don't want to ask anybody for money ever again!"?

A: Absolutely not. I wake up every day saying, 'I wish I had more time to fundraise.' I love fundraising, because I know that without it, SPAC doesn't succeed. I never have a problem asking people for money, ever.

Q: Pop quiz: Saratoga's mineral springs are the result of a particular geological feature. What is it called?

A: I don't know.

Q: It's the Saratoga Fault, which runs from Saratoga to Whitehall.

A: Oh, that's right.

Q: You have been quoted in the local press using the phrase "the SPAC Experience" 29 times since fall 2005. Have you trademarked or copyrighted it or found a way to make money from it?

A: We make money from it when we end the season in the black. The SPAC Experience is not the performance on the stage, not the art, necessarily. It's what happens when you come here: the opportunity to spend an evening with your family, to be part of this historic, iconic performing-arts facility that the community built.

Q: On that rare summer night when you don't have to be at SPAC but don't want to stay at home, where do you go?

A: I usually want to stay at home. I have a little piece of privacy in the country, and that's where I want to be.

Q: For a number of years, the SPAC Food and Wine Festival has also featured a display of Ferraris and other exotic cars. If you could have any one of them, which would it be?

A: Hmmm. That's a good question. I couldn't pick just one. I absolutely love cars, and I love driving. Maybe in another life I'll come back as champion dragster driver Shirley "Cha-Cha" Muldowney.

Q: Because I have magic powers, I can arrange for you to trade jobs for one day with anyone in the Capital Region, and I can give you the skills to do the job. With whom would you like to trade jobs?

A:Alain Kaloyeros, president and CEO of the SUNY Institute of Technology and SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. He's a visionary, he's passionate about what he does, he's the leader of a sea change, and he's really helped put the Capital Region on the map. He's done an amazing job on something that has really changed the Capital Region.